Scrum-half Mark McMillan is back at Warriors after five years in the Premiership with Wasps and lock Tim Barker has rejoined after a two-year absence, following spells with Ulster and French outfit Castres.
Both players are gearing up for the new season - starting with Friday's Magners League trip to Newport Gwent Dragons.
Warriors will face Newport four times this season, after being drawn together in the Heineken Cup.
"It's going to be very physical. We know they have a strong line-out, a strong pack and a well drilled back line," McMillan told BBC Sport.
"We should be expecting and believing we can win but we're not underestimating the challenge that faces us."
McMillan said he was relishing being back at Glasgow, describing the squad as a "tight group of guys".
"They were my mates when I left so it's good to call them my team-mates again," he added.
"You can't underestimate the squad unity. It's a really tight group of players who have the same expectations and belief, and who are willing to work for each other.
The competition for places is greater now than when I was last here, particularly in the second and back rows
"Before I left there wasn't the same expectation to perform, but now we have a squad who are determined to win whether it's home or away."
McMillan is confident that his experience of playing in the Premiership with Wasps means he is returning to Glasgow a better player.
"I think I left a little bit raw. I was young, but I've come back a more rounded player; stronger, smarter and maybe slightly tougher on and off the park.
"In terms of the learning of the game, off the park is as important as on the park and that's what I've been able to achieve in the past few years."
McMillan was involved in the Scotland A squad last season, both in the shadow Six Nations and Churchill Cup and he insists that although he hopes to further his international career, that was not the reason for his move.
"I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. I came back purely for Glasgow reasons, because I was here before and liked it before," he said.
"Of course the international prospect is in the back of my mind but I'm trying to take A before B. I want to be part of this exciting squad and that's all I'm focusing on.
"If I'm playing well regularly then perhaps I can start thinking about that, but I need to take little steps before I can run."
Glasgow finished a surprise fifth in the Magners League last season and Barker has been impressed by the club's ambitions for the future.
"There's massive determination to at least repeat that success," he said.
Barker believes Warriors have improved in the two years he's been away.
"Two things stand out," he said. "Firstly, the belief in the team. They believe they can win every game and proved that they can with wins over Ulster and Munster last season.
"The competition for places is greater now than when I was last here, particularly in the second and back rows.
"This was the one club that I wanted to come back to, and when I spoke to Sean Lineen we both had the same ambitions."
He added: "We want to have our best season ever in both the Magners League and the Heineken Cup. It's going to be tough, as other teams have improved but we are going into every game to win.
"We learned a lot in the pre-season matches and now we're really excited about the first game on Friday.
"We're ready to get stuck into the new season."
The trip to Newport will be Glasgow's first competitive match under the Experimental Law Variations, and McMillan is excited by the prospect.
"It's going to be a bit of a blank sheet because it's very new," he said.
"You have to get rid of certain habits and you have to be a little bit more aware of what you can and can't do on the park.
"In terms of pre-season games it's been a bit of a trainer for the brain. Going into the first few league games we won't know how the other teams will defend and attack the ELVs so it's quite exciting.
"We'll just be focusing on ourselves and hope that we get them right and the other team get them wrong."